Dr. Debra Wallace, Deputy Branch Chief for Astrophysics at the NASA MSFC

Exploring the Vast Cosmic Structures of the Universe

THE CLASSROOM WILL BE OPEN FOR THIS EVENT

Join us LIVE in the WAS Classroom for this special lecture, featuring our speaker joining us remotely. Plus, it’s our Pre-Winter Solstice Holiday Party! This event WILL be live-streamed on YouTube and as a webinar on Zoom, but we’re inviting you to return to the classroom at the Westport Observatory to celebrate the solstice season together. As always, the talk will be posted to the Westport Astronomical Society’s YouTube channel afterwards.

Dr. Debra Wallace is the Deputy Branch Chief for Astrophysics at the NASA MSFC where she leads a team of 30+ scientists working in high-energy astrophysics. Dr. Wallace started her astronomy career at the Space Telescope Science Institute with an undergraduate degree in business. She went on to obtain a MA in physics from Johns Hopkins, and a PhD in Astronomy from Georgia State. She started her NASA career at GSFC as a Post-doctoral Fellow, became a tenured faculty member at the University of South Carolina Beaufort, and spent three years as a member of the Astrophysics Branch at NASA Headquarters prior to joining NASA MSFC. When not enabling others research, Debra uses multi-wavelength visual imaging, spectroscopy, and interferometry to better understand black hole and gamma-ray burst precursor stars, their lifecycle, their influences, and their impact.

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The December Cal’s Corner will feature an object that will interest Star Wars fans.